[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17795-17796]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    ELECTRICITY CRISIS IN SAN DIEGO

  (Mr. FILNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I just returned from San Diego where earlier 
this week hearings were held by the Committee on Commerce Subcommittee 
on Power and Energy yesterday by the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission on the electricity crisis that is facing San Diego where, in 
the last 2 or 3 months, prices have doubled and tripled for the average 
consumer, people have gone out of business not able to pay their bills, 
a tremendous drain on our economy

[[Page 17796]]

threatening recession for our whole area.
  It became clear in those hearings that this crisis was not brought 
about by any problem with the supply and demand, as some people 
charged, but was pure manipulation of the market by a few profit hungry 
power merchants who provide and generate the electricity for the 
western market.
  Three hundred fifty million dollars was sucked out of the San Diego 
economy in the last 3 months, $2 billion out of the California economy.
  I have legislation, Mr. Speaker, to make sure that the victims of 
this incredible price gouging disaster are not the consumers and small 
business people of California but those who have made the ill-gotten 
gains.
  Please pass H.R. 5131 to help San Diego.

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